


that that is, is, that that is not, is not

by ValenJuls



Category: Amar a Muerte (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-06-02 15:55:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19444708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValenJuls/pseuds/ValenJuls
Summary: It was a weird, stupid clause that Valentina's grandfather left when he decided to hand over the reins to Valentina's company fully to Valentina. It was stupid, annoying (and probably illegal), and frankly sexist (if her grandfather had done it to her sister as well), but it's probably one of the best things that happened to her.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> So I already posted this on Tumblr but I thought I should post this on here too. I am also extremely slow at updating. So, I'm sorry.

She was going to kill her and if not kill her then give her the ultimate silent treatment, something she knows would drive her crazy. Juliana glances at the clock right above the far wall, her annoyance mounting as the clock continues to tick without any sign of her boss coming in. Despite the fact that she called this morning to make sure she was getting ready and she called an hour and a half later to make she was actually on her way. Both times Valentina had said she was on her way.

_On my way, my ass._

Juliana sighs as she steels herself in front of Valentina’s office, already preparing a speech in her mind, the third time she’s about to enter without their desired person. She glances at the clock again her annoyance growing larger by the second. As she’s about to open the door, excuses at the ready, she hears the elevator ding and Valentina steps out in her perfectly pressed pantsuit, not a hair out of place, her expensive handbag that was probably the equal cost of two months rent for Juliana slung over her shoulder, clutched in her hands were two cups of iced coffee from that place just around the corner that was usually out of the way

Juliana glares at her, not reaching out to take the peace offering that Valentina was holding out. She grabs the purse though to stash it under her desk. “Where have you been?! I’ve been stalling your brother and sister in there.”

Valentina continues to nudge the cup of coffee towards her, her blue eyes were bigger than usual, knowing the effect it usually has on people. “I got you your favorite.”

“My favorite is when my boss is on time so I don’t have to hold a fucking concert in her office!” Juliana says, her earlier annoyance already evaporating as she takes a sip of the vanilla latte.

Valentina perks up at that. “I missed your singing?”

“So not the point.” She pushes Valentina towards the boardroom. “Now go and play nice. We need them to approve the latest project.”

Valentina grabs Juliana by the arm when she turns to go back to her desk, catching her off guard, so much so that her heels squeak against the floor too loudly. “Wait, you’re not coming in there with me?”

Juliana shakes her head. “Somebody-” she emphasizes, raising an eyebrow at Valentina, knowing exactly who she was talking about, “-kept me up with their rambling last night that I couldn’t exactly finish my portfolio.”

Valentina has this thoughtful look on her face at the mention of their night. “But it’s not my fault!”

“I know you can’t control your sleep talking,” Juliana interrupts before Valentina can get off track as she pulls the door open before pushing Valentina into the room. “Have fun!”

-

-

-

Juliana was finishing up the sketches in her portfolio, making sure the shading was correct as well as what pattern she intended she was going to use with each piece, trying to provide as much quality work as she can at such a limited time. She hears the door to Valentina’s office open and the other two Carvajals leave, but her eyes never lift from her work. She needs all the time she can get with this.

She feels her presence first before she sees her. There was something in the air that was pressing against the room, one that wasn’t there before, she couldn’t figure out what it was so she ignores it (a tactic that she’s learned to use whenever the young CEO was around). Without lifting her eyes from her work she asks, “How did the meeting go? Did you take notes?”

She was met with silence from her. Juliana stops scribbling and looks up to see Valentina propped up at the corner of Juliana’s desk, her finger pinching the bridge of her nose, eyes closed, neck tense and her shoulder basically bracketing the sides of her face at how high it was.

Juliana puts down her work, uneased at the sight of her easy-going boss looking so stressed from just one meeting with her siblings. “It’s okay if you didn’t take notes,” she jokes, hoping to lighten her mood.

She finds their relationship weird. They were so formal with each other, often refraining from talking about their feelings. They were ultra competitive and the few lunches or dinners that Juliana had been too was usually spent bragging about their separate companies, one-upping each other. They even made it into a game, which was bizarre to Juliana. But usually, it’s when their older sister was present. When it was just Valentina and her brother, they were far more human (maybe it’s because Eva hates Juliana for unknown reasons.)

Instead of the usual sass that Juliana has been accustomed to after working with Valentina for almost 2 years (being friends for more than 3 now) all she hears is a deep sigh and sees her fingers seeming to dig even deeper into her face.

Her worry spikes. Juliana stands in front of Valentina. She gently takes her hands from her face, and holds them in her own.

Valentina groans as she slumps forward, her face immediately burrowing itself on her chest, finally taking her hand from her face. She sighs once as she straightens. Juliana immediately recognizes that sigh as her cannot-deal- anymore sigh She nods at the planner on Juliana’s desk. Her anxiety jumps at seeing the different colored inks littering the page. She turns to Juliana, her voice almost a plea. “Wanna play hooky?”

“Only if we do it at my apartment,” Juliana answers.

Valentina raises an eyebrow, grinning slyly. “You’re demanding today, Juliana Valdes.”

“C'mon let’s take your clothes off so you can relax,” Juliana says, tugging Valentina from the desk to help her pack up.

-

-

-

“You know when you told me you were going take off my clothes, this wasn’t what I was expecting,” Valentina says as she holds her arms out for Juliana to take her measurement. Her clothes were indeed off, hanging over Juliana’s couch save for her underwear.

“I told you I have to finish my portfolio,” Juliana says around the pencil that was between her teeth. She puts her measuring tape around her neck as she writes the measurements down. She shoots Valentina a bright smile, the corner of her eyes crinkling. “Thanks, boss.”

Valentina covers her chest, squirming at Juliana’s words. “I feel dirty,” she jokes. She side steps to the couch to grab her clothes. She throws her shirt on before walking down the hallway to Juliana’s closet, shouting over her shoulder. “I’m grabbing some sweats.”

“Whatever!” Juliana yells back as she sits on her desk to try to figure out how much fabric she’s going to need.

Juliana hears Valentina heave an end-of-the-world-inducing sigh as she settles on Juliana’s blue couch that she got from the dumpster almost a year ago. Juliana freezes at the sound, torn between finishing her assignment and actually comforting her boss. She waits, pencil in her grip to see if Valentina was going to make any more sounds that make you wonder if your heart was supposed to respond that way.

Valentina heaves another sigh, this time bigger and much more prolonged.

Juliana takes a deep breath and puts her pencil down. She pushes against her desk, rolling and turning her chair, deftly to face Valentina. She wanted to groan, not out of exasperation at how dramatic Valentina was being but at how cute she looks, curled up on the couch, her face free of makeup and wearing slouchy clothes that just about swallows her.

“Out with it,” Juliana says scooching Valentina even more on the couch, almost crowding her.

Valentina turns and leans against Juliana, her head dropping to Juliana’s shoulder, another sigh leaving her, but this one was almost out of relief.

Juliana feels a slight, weird tug at the pit of her stomach at that. She always felt her reactions super endearing. “What happened at the meeting?” she asks as she strokes Valentina’s hair, smoothing it away from her face.

She knows their relationship is…weird, for a lack of a better word. It’s not your typical working relationship.

They were friends, first and foremost. They met under unlikely circumstances thanks to Valentina’s sleazy boyfriend who thought he could have a side chick in Juliana. Needless to say, Juliana didn’t take a liking to that and immediately went to Valentina to tell her that her boyfriend was a douchebag. They’ve been friends ever since. Though Juliana was working part-time as her administrative assistant, once she graduates, she’s going to assume her proper vice president role of their magazine, that they’ve put blood, sweat, and tears in to make sure it actually succeeds in a world where print was steadfastly getting buried.

Valentina lets out a slight growl (more of a cute baby lion growl than a threatening growl really). “My abuelito is an asshole.”

“Your family is full of assholes,” Juliana replies, the insult coming out so easily that it made Valentina laugh. “That’s like a rich thing right?”

“Am I an asshole?”

“You’re the biggest asshole, brat,” Juliana teases, her fingers curling around her hip, tickling at the spot she knows would receive the biggest giggle.

“Stop that!” Valentina squeals in between the giggles that Juliana managed to draw out of her, squirming away from Juliana’s touch. “I’m trying to be sad and angry!” When Juliana doesn’t stop her merciless tickling, she grabs her hand in frustration. “Let me be angry!”

“That’s not allowed in my crappy apartment,” Juliana says but stops her attack, resting her hand on Valentina’s stomach, lightly drumming her finger, letting Valentina focus on that instead of her anger, knowing her next question will probably set her off. “Now what makes your grandfather an asshole other than being rich?”

“Marriage,” Valentina says, her tone darkening.

“Alright, cynic, what about marriage?”

“He has a stupid clause in order for me to have full reign of my company. I have to marry before I can fully become CEO of the company,” Valentina says, the anger in her voice was growing larger.

Juliana knows that she should’ve tried to calm her down. She knows that but just hearing something so outdated and so archaic had her angry too. It undermined everything they established and worked hard for.

“That’s fucked up,” Juliana whispers, trying to keep her voice calm since Valentina has already moved to the deep end of her anger, which included gripping Juliana’s arm harder than she should. Juliana shakes it to remind Valentina there’s a human being behind that was currently attached to the arm. Valentina’s grip lessens, but her hand never moves from Juliana’s arm.

“I know!” Valentina huffs. “Papi’s lawyers are looking over it to see if there’s any way I can get out of this dumb clause without having to just be an interim CEO.”

“And?”

Valentina shakes her head no. “That’s why Guille and Eva came. They wanted to look over it too.” Her hand clenches into fists against Juliana’s arm. “Guille didn’t have to do this and I can’t accuse him of being sexist because he didn’t do this with Eva!” She raises her fist, angrily shouting at the ceiling. “Fuck you abuelito!”

“Woah, a little harsh there, Val?” Juliana says.

“Please,” Valentina says, dismissing her concerns. “This is how we talked to each other when he was alive.”

“He never talked to me that way.”

“Yeah because he liked you,” Valentina says. “He said you reminded him of his little sister.”

Juliana feels oddly flattered. “Oh.”

“Yeah, even dead he’s still ruining my life,” Valentina mutters. “Why?” Valentina groans, throwing back her arm over her eyes. “Did he really think I would end up alone that he needed to meddle like this?”

“Have you been seeing anyone?” Juliana asks. 

Valentina gives her a look, raising an eyebrow. 

Juliana shrugs. “Maybe you’ve been hiding him from me.”

“Unless you count our late nights in the office, then the only one I’ve been seeing is you,” Valentina reminds her. “I have no time to date when we’re preparing to launch the teen magazine.” She sighs deeply again, tilting her head to reach Juliana’s neck before burying her face against there, breathing in deeply to calm her down. Valentina had told her repeatedly that Juliana’s scent for some reason just helped her. “I don’t know what to do,” she whispers against her neck.

Juliana’s hand tightens around her stomach. “You sleeping over?” She feels a small nod. “Then c’mon, let’s think about this tomorrow.” She pushes against Valentina gently to let her up. 

Valentina waits as Juliana gathers their stuff. She lets herself be tugged to Juliana’s bedroom, immediately going to the right side if the bed and slipping under the covers, watching as Juliana puts their dirty clothes in her laundry.

“Turn off your brain,” she says as she turns off the lamp before climbing into bed. She pats Valentina on the small of her back, trying to reassure her. “We’ll find your prince charming tomorrow.”

-

-

-

“How was the date?” Juliana asks as Valentina groans, launching herself on Juliana’s bed. Juliana complains at having the little nest that she’s built on her bed disturbed at Valentina’s movement.

Valentina grabs the pillow hugging it to her face and screams in it. Once done with her screamfest, she gives it to Juliana and lays down on the bed, blinking up at her, her blue eyes practically begging. “If you really are my bestest friend in the whole wild world, you’ll suffocate me with this.”

“I should suffocate you for using the word bestest,” Juliana jokes, passing the pillow back to her. She rearranges the pillow around her to make it comfortable again after Valentina grabbed one of the support pillows. “Date that bad?”

“I can’t marry Sergio,” Valentina says. She cringes in disgust. “He’s like my annoying little brother that shows up when he’s unwanted.”

“Then why did you go out with him?”

“Do I need to remind you of that stupid clause that I’m pretty sure is illegal?”

Juliana shakes her head. “Yeah, but what if you just pay someone off?”

Valentina’s eyes widen as if she remembered something. “Right, you’ve been out for a week.”

“It’s not my fault! I’m sick!” Juliana defends, coughing for good measure.

Valentina waves off her concern. “It’s not that. You just missed a lot. So they couldn’t find a way to get me out right? But they also found that I have to be with someone for at least three years and ten months. Or at least have known them for three year and ten months.”

Juliana’s brows furrows at her words. “That’s oddly specific.”

“Right?”

“Your grandpa really was weird,” Juliana comments. “Sergio was the only one that fit that criteria?”

Valentina’s eyes look down as she plays with the pillow as a sure sign that she’s thinking. She doesn’t have a lot of guy friends, really. She doesn’t have a lot of girl friends either. “Unless you count…” her voice trails off, haltingly, when she realizes it.

Juliana waits for Valentina to come to whatever conclusion she suddenly came to, eyes still watering and nose running. She coughs.

Valentina looks at her pointedly.

“What?”

Valentina keeps looking at her, a slow smile forming on her face. Her eyes were bright and shining as she stares at Juliana’s sniveling form as if she held all the answers in the world.

Juliana’s eyes widen as it suddenly dawns on her why Valentina was looking at her like she was the most refreshing drink in the world that she’d love to take a sip of. “My brain is a little dumb right now but are you suggesting what I think you’re suggesting?”

“We literally met three years and ten months ago,” Valentina says as if everything was falling into pieces. She can practically see her bouncing. “You fit the criteria!”

“But wouldn’t your abuelito have something against same-sex marriage?” Juliana asks. “Like c’mon, he wanted to marry you off that screams traditionalist than anything.”

“I don’t remember there being a specific part on gender,” Valentina admits as she takes her phone out as she starts texting their company lawyer. “Let me ask them and see what they say.”

“Val…”

Valentina looks up at Juliana’s tone, thumbs hovering over the keyboard. Her tone makes Valentina still. She turns to Juliana, making her blue eyes bigger and even managing to make it fill with tears. She kneels on Juliana’s side, her palms pressed against together. I know this is asking a lot. I know that and I usually wouldn’t ask something this big, but please?”

Juliana sighs, finger and thumb going to the bridge of her nose, eyes closing as she thinks.

“Jules, please,” Valentina whispers, grabbing the other hand that was not on her face and tugging on it. She places their entwined hands under her chin, imploring. “You’re the only one I could trust and we can’t let the board appoint another CEO when we’ve worked so hard for this.”

Juliana looks at the pleading in her eyes. She closes her eyes again before opening them again, sighing. She nods at her, raising an eyebrow. “This is the proposal I get?” She teases.

Valentina squeals throwing her arms around Juliana. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou.”

“You _sooooo_ owe me,” Juliana whispers, a smile on her face, Valentina’s relief and happiness were contagious. 

* * *


	2. two

“Give me a hickey.” 

Juliana stops her typing on her phone when she feels a weight drape over her. She brings her phone down to see two lake eyes blinking back at her, her neck exposed. She looks around to see some of the people in the restaurant staring at them with wide eyes, some whispering, others just with a confused look on their faces. She ignores them and plucks a grape from the fruit tray that the waiter had left. 

“I’ll give you one better,” Juliana says as she presses the grape against Valentina’s lips. 

“Yuck!” Valentina sits up, batting at her lips, trying to get rid of the cold feeling. She glares at the offending grape before looking at the offender herself. “I hate grapes.”

“I know,” Juliana says as she pops the grape into her mouth. 

Valentina picks up a menu, skimming through it as if she was actually thinking of ordering something. “Did you already order?”

“I got you the fish one,” Juliana replies. 

Valentina’s nose scrunches as she looks at the menu, scanning the seafood section. She can feel her disgust. She was very picky when it came to fish. “Fish?”

“Salmon,” Juliana clarifies.

Valentina puts the menu down and holds out her hand for Juliana’s cellphone. Juliana obliges and hands it over for Valentina to put in her bag. It was a small rule they had. They know that running a company can usually mean being on your phone 24/7 so mealtimes were reserved for eye contacts and actual conversation. 

“Why a hickey?” Juliana asks. 

Valentina’s face pinches into disgust and Juliana wanted to shove whoever made her pull her face. “Do you remember Lucho?”

Juliana’s eyebrows raise as she leans subconsciously leans forward. She can already feel her blood boiling a bit at the mention of Valentina’s ex-boyfriend. He was an ass, no doubt about it. “How can I not? He’s the reason we met, remember?”

“Well, he’s been trying to get at me again.” Valentina sighs and leans back against her seat. “Stupid Sergio is still friends with him and he blabbed.”

“So a hickey…”

“Would make him think I’m with someone,” Valentin explains. “You know how it is with that asshole. An explanation is never enough.”

“Fuck him,” Juliana spits out. She was tired of that man managing to budge into their lives even after Valentina had broken up with him. “While we’re at it, fuck Sergio too.”

“We wouldn’t have this problem if I could,” Valentina mutters just as their server comes with their tray of food. 

He stumbles at his last step as he awkwardly tried not to make eye contact with either Valentina or her. Juliana bites her lip to keep herself from laughing at loud at the server’s expense. She makes a note to herself to tip more than she should just to make up for the fact that this poor pimply teenager has to hear Valentina’s problems. Valentina, of course, was oblivious. 

“So when are we telling your family that we’re getting married?” Juliana asks as she puts some sauce on her chicken taco dish. It was some kind of Korean-Mexican fusion. It was good but tastes weird on her palate. She looks at Valentina’s dish. The salmon looking more appetizing than the taco-but-not-chicken-taco on her plate. 

She hears Valentina laugh and she looks up to meet her twinkling blue eyes. Wordlessly, Valentina trades their dishes. She takes a small bite making sure it actually tasted good to her before she starts eating it. 

“How about tonight?” Valentina suggests.

The salmon lodges in Juliana’s throat and she flails her arms as she tries to reach for her drink. Valentina grabs her wrist and directs it to the water. “Little warning,” Juliana says as after she takes several gulps of water, some of it trickling down her neck.

“That was my warning,” Valentina says. She grabs a napkin and wipes Juliana’s face and neck. “We have our Sunday dinner today.”

“Do you want me to be there?” Juliana offers.

Valentina laughs at her question. She can clearly see her eyes screaming no. “Would you be there if I say yes?”

Juliana pouts but nods begrudgingly. “Yes.” She can already feel that prickling annoyance settling in her skin just thinking about the Carvajal’s Sunday dinner. She’s only been there and once was enough. 

Valentina smiles brightly at her as if she just promised her the world and the annoyance briefly fades. She loves Valentina’s smiles. They were always so bright she can feel the warmth from them.

“Should we take separate cars so you can escape when you want to?” Valentina asks, already knowing that Juliana can only take so much before she wants to escape. 

“No.” Juliana’s mind was screaming yes at Valentina’s suggestion. Oh, how her mind basically jumped at the thought of being able to get away when she needs to. But she refrains. 

The Carvajal's, well maybe just Eva, are notoriously conservative, despite the fact that Eva had a baby out of wedlock after cheating on her husband. But it’s Valentina’s sister and she loves her and Juliana can play nice even just for a few hours. 

Valentina’s eyes widen in surprise, but she nods, a pleased smile on her face. “I’ll pick you up at 6 then?”

-

-

-

Carvajal Family Dinners (and yes they have to be capitalized to show how much of an event they actually are) are not your average family dinners. They were catered, had a schedule, and bordering on excessively ridiculous (and no she does mean excessively ridiculous not ridiculously excessive). Juliana never felt more out of place in Valentina’s life than she had in those dinners, despite the fact that other than Eva’s snide side comments, the rest of the Carvajal clan were relatively harmless and more than welcoming to Juliana (especially since she replaced Lucho, as Valentina’s father would say over and over again). She’s only been to a full dinner where every single member of the Carvajal family was there once. And that was enough. Most of the time it’s just Guille, Valentina’s father, her grandparents when they were alive, and Valentina present when she would go.

“So when do you think we should tell them?” Valentina asks as they pull up the Carvajal mansion. 

“Maybe after dessert is served?” Juliana suggests, her eyes were still on the mansion. It always takes her aback when she sees it, just the sheer size of it. There were already guards stationed by the front door ready to park their car. You would think that they were the royal family or something, but with how the country treats them. They’re pretty damn close to it. 

“It’s pudding,” Valentina says, the disdain clear on her face. “Emilia requested it.”

“Then a little bit after the wine comes out,” Juliana says as she gathers her stuff. She shrugs her light sweater on, glad that she remembered to grab it instead of borrowing Valentina’s. She gives a slight smile to the guard that opens her door before she follows Valentina into her house. 

Walking through the Carvajal Mansion always takes her breath away. Juliana wasn’t used to such a neat space, where minimalism is the theme. Her house was always brimming with stuff, a broken toaster that hasn’t been thrown out just in case it works again, frayed towels that have definitely seen better days but can be used as something else, multiple fans because one works but wouldn’t oscillate or one oscillate but it doesn’t get as cold as the other one. There was always stuff in her house. Her house was clean don’t get her wrong. Her mother prided on their house being spotless. But she was also used to keeping things despite having new things in case one breaks.

“Juli!” Eva’s 5-year-old daughter, Emilia, throws herself at her the moment they enter the house.

Juliana catches her, before peppering her neck with kisses making the little girl squeal and giggle in laughter. “Mia!”

“Excuse me?” Valentina asks as she stands next to Juliana, feeling slighted. She pouts as Emilia pulls away from Juliana before throwing herself at Valentina. “Tina!”

“Tia Valentina.” They hear the click-clack of Eva’s heels against the marble floor before they see her entering, looking as glamorous as she usually does, not a perfect hair out of place. 

“ _Tia_ Tina,” Emilia says as she hugs Valentina. She pulls at her purple dress. It was hideously purple that only little kids could pull off. “Do you like my new dress? I picked it out!”

“It looks very beautiful, my princess,” Valentina says, rolling the fabric between her fingers. It was wholly too extravagant but on par with what she used to have. She nods to Eva. “Is everyone here?”

“Just waiting on Lucho,” Eva says.

Juliana feels Valentina freeze at the name before she glares at her sister. The smirk on Eva’s face was infuriating, almost as if she knew what Valentina was planning and this threw a wrench in it. 

Juliana wanted to laugh because she knows that twinkle of defiance in Valentina’s eyes. Usually when she sees that she’s already preparing some kind of damage control in her head in order to minimize the damage that it would have on the company. Valentina was a great CEO, but sometimes she can be a little unhinged. That’s why they work so well together.

Just this once, Juliana didn’t make any initially move to discourage it like she usually does with a pinch to her waist. Instead just watches the clogs in Valentina’s brain start turning. No doubt she’s trying to figure out a way to make Eva’s face pinch in anger without getting her father disappointed in her (though as the youngest, Juliana knows her father has a soft spot for Valentina. His princess can do no wrong). 

“Oh,” Valentina says, her voice devoid of emotion. Juliana knew then and there that she has a plan. She didn’t know whether she wanted to be in the room for the fallout or be away from it. She’s leaning towards away from it. 

-

-

-

There was one thing she loves about Carvajal dinners and it was the food. It was usually catered by the best of the best and something Juliana would never buy for herself. The only bad thing was that the portions were _so_ small that she usually eats something greasy after. 

Now she can barely eat the food that was placed in front of her. She’s only munching on a couple of bites of it, the morsel of food sits heavily in her mouth. Her eyes keep wandering to Valentina a couple of seats down to her right trying to gauge her mood. She was placed right at the end of their long table with the kids, probably Eva’s doing. On other nights she would probably make some stink to it to Valentina’s dad but today she was glad to be away from the firing squad. Lucho was seated to Valentina’s left. She can see Valentina’s hand drifting to her steak knife a couple of times every time Lucho’s leans towards and presumably says something that he thinks is slick. 

She feels a tug at her sleeve and she looks down to see Ezra and Emilia looking up at her. “What’s up?”

“I want the pudding,” Emilia says after consulting with Ezra, Guille and Renata’s son. 

Juliana looks at the adult’s section of the table. Valentina looks absolutely numb trying to listen to Lucho drone on. Juliana looks at the two kids and nods. She whispers, “We gotta be sneaky so the adults don’t notice us.”

Ezra and Emilia giggle, nodding before one by one they slip past the many hired crew for the night before ending up in the sectioned part of the kitchen where the dessert was delicately piled up. 

“Pudding!” Emilia screams the moment she sees the goo sitting on one of those large expensive crystal bowls. The sight of such a poor people dessert in a large Swarovski bowl that probably cost thousands to produce made Juliana laugh. Emilia runs to the side of it and stands on her tiptoes, bracing her palms on the table that held it. “Tia Juli, _pudding._ ” 

“You really like pudding, huh?” Juliana says as she looks through the various cabinets looking for a plastic bowl, knowing that the younger might drop it and she does need to clean glass off of either her or Emilia. 

“Pudding is the best,” Emilia says, rocking on her tiptoes. It must be a Carvajal thing. 

“Ezra do you want some too?” Juliana asks, finally finding some plastic bowls behind the many ceramic and porcelain bowls. 

“Ezra and I can share,” Emilia says. 

“Sounds good,” Juliana says as she scoops a good amount of pudding in one of the bowls. She looks around the kitchen trying to find a place for them to sit but found every surface occupied with some kind of something, either finished food or food in the midst of being finished. 

Juliana directs the kids to sit in the wide stepping stool in the vast pantry. There was enough room for the two little ones. She sits beside them, taking her phone out to text Valentina where she was at. 

“This is so good,” Emilia says as she scoops some up and feeds herself before turning to her younger cousin and feeding him as well. She holds a spoonful of pudding under Juliana’s nose. “Juli, want some?”

Juliana cringes at the unappetizing mushy thing on the spoon. She doesn’t understand why kids go nuts over it. “I’m good, Mia. Thanks.”

Emilia shrugs as she keeps eating, no regard for her pretty purple dress as the pudding slowly drops into the creases of it. Now it was a pretty purple pudding dress. She finishes it off in no time, licking the bowl and spoon before she gives the bowl to Juliana, her sticky fingers immediately going to her dress to wipe it off. “Can I play doggie camp?”

Juliana puts the bowl on one of the shelves before pulling her phone out. She loads up the requested app for her and gives her the phone. “Who are you trying to get?” 

Emilia thinks about it for a moment. “Hmmm...Tia.”

“Who is Tia?”

“Elephant,” Emilia says as she starts to press around Juliana’s phone. She couldn’t read yet but the pictures on the phone give her enough of an understanding. Juliana cringes as she sees streaks of pudding getting left behind. “She looks like tia Tina.”

Juliana laughs as Ezra crawls into her lap. He snuggles against Juliana’s neck and curls his fist around a lock of her hair as his other fist immediately goes into his mouth. He settles almost immediately, falling asleep on her lap. Her hand automatically lands on his back to keep him from toppling. 

She watches as Emilia giggles and coos over the different animals on the app, showing Juliana which ones were her favorite and which were not. 

(“I don’t hate them cos you’re not pose to hate anyone.” Emilia informs very seriously, her sticky fingers on Juliana’s cheek. A very Valentina saying. “But I just don’t love them. But I don’t hate them.”)

She was listening to Emilia whisper excitedly at the new features of her favorite app as she cards her fingers through Ezra’s black hair, trying to keep the toddler asleep, wishing that she was knocked out as he is when she hears the first of raised voices. 

It was Eva, no surprise there. 

She almost wishes they stayed with the adults so she can swig a few glasses of wine. Almost.

She raises her voice to drown out the screaming from the other room. If she listens carefully, she thinks she hears the sound of Eva’s sanity breaking. 

She hears the stomp of Valentina’s boot as she comes in. She looks up as she sees Valentina, face flushed in anger, eyes shining. Juliana feels her heart drop. She wanted to stand up but the toddler in her arms prevented her from doing so.

“Val?”

“I’m fine,” Valentina assures, gesturing for her to calm down. “These are angry tears.” She sits down next to them, criss-cross-applesauce style before plopping Emilia on her lap, sticking her face in her hair, smelling it and letting the baby smell calm her. 

“Tia Tina, look!” Emilia shoves the phone under her nose oblivious to the tension that Valentina had brought with her. “Looks like you.”

“Oh wow, what a cool elephant,” Valentina says as she smooths down Emilia’s dress, her hand getting caught in the sticky substance. She looks down at her hands before looking up at Juliana, asking silently what it was. 

_Pudding_ , Juliana mouths. 

Valentina’s nose turns up in disgust as she slyly wipes her hands on Emilia’s dress again. Valentina remains quiet and Juliana doesn’t try to talk to her, knowing she needs a little bit of time to calm herself down or she ends up lashing at those around her. 

When she sees Valentina’s shoulder drop, a sure sign that she was mostly relaxed, she asks. “So it didn’t go too well?”

She gives Juliana the stink eye. “You should’ve just given me a hickey.”

-

-

-

“Well, only Eva reacted really,” Valentina says as she sits on the carpeted floor of her bedroom, her laptop open in front of her and a tablet on her knees as she looks over the layout of issue coming out in two months. “And Lucho if you count that bozo.” 

“You shouldn’t,” Juliana says as she works on taking off her make-up in the bathroom. Juliana comes out briefly and stands over Valentina’s shoulder to look at her work. She points at a particular section. “That looks nice.”

Valentina hums, eyes focused on her tablet. “It might not be dynamic enough for when we convert it digitally.” 

“I’m sure Lena will be able to convert it perfectly,” Juliana says as she walks back to the bathroom to finish washing up. 

“Why did Eva even invite Lucho like there’s really no absolute good reason to invite that asshole,” Valentina gripes, her toes unconsciously curling against the white carpet. 

“Uncurl your toes before you get a cramp,” Juliana says, nudging her thigh with her big toe as she sits across from her. “What do you mean only Eva reacted?”

“And Lucho.”

Juliana rolls her eyes. “Stop counting that douche canoe.” 

“Well, only Eva had an outspoken reaction to it,” Valentina recalls, resting her chin on her knee. “She blew up. She was saying how bad this was and how the press was going to have a field day and our stocks were gonna tank and all this and that. And-” she scoffs, rolling her eyes. “-dumb Lucho started trying to get back at me even though I just announced we were getting married.”

“Your brother? Your dad?” Juliana prods, her fingers tapping on her thigh. Her anxious habit. She feels guilty leaving Valentina when the shit dropped and she tells her so. 

“Honestly, I’m glad you took Ezra and Mia out of there,” Valentina says, grabbing her fingers to stop them from tapping any further and to squeeze it reassuringly. “They didn’t need to see their tia decking someone.”

Juliana barks out a laugh. “You punched Eva?”

“Oh hell no,” Valentina says, laughing at the image of her decking her sister, reminds her of when they were little.

“You decked Lucho?” Juliana gasps, her tone was nothing but proud, almost giddy. She clasps her hands together. “Please, please tell me you knocked him on his ass.” 

“I did,” Valentina admits. She sighs as she wiggles her fingers remembering the satisfying sensation as her fist connects with Lucho’s face. “It felt _so_ good.” 

Juliana can’t help but laugh at the gleeful pleased look on her face. “Your dad? He didn’t say anything?”

Valentina shakes her head. “No, he was really quiet after the announcement.”

“Do you wanna tell him it’s fake?” Juliana asks. “Just to ease his mind?”

“Ease his mind about what?” Valentina asks, her eyes still focused on the screen in front of her. 

“The gay thing,” Juliana whispers, almost choking on the words. There’s this inexplicable heavy block in her chest making her heart thump harder against her chest. It’s only been present a couple of times. She has an inkling as to why those times always involved the blue-eyed Carvajal. 

Valentina looks up sharply at Juliana’s tone. She can see her eyes had gotten darker. She looks serious despite the fact that she was wearing her favorite Eevee pajamas that had a very fluffy Eevee right above her heart that Valentina had gotten her on a trip to the Pokemon Center in Japan. It was striking but very Juliana. 

“Why would I ease his mind about that?” Valentina asks, rhetorically. Juliana can see her choosing her words carefully as she speaks softly and with conviction. “There’s nothing wrong with being gay, Jules. It’s absolutely normal. If anything, it would ease his mind that I’m marrying you and not some straight slimy asshole like Lucho.”

“Oh.” Her voice was small, unsure of how to respond. She tucks herself more, curling almost into a ball. It was unexpected. The relief she feels when she hears those words come from her best friend. She wasn’t even actively thinking about it and she doesn’t want to actively think about it. She’s shelved it when she went to college, deciding to focus on her academics. 

Valentina watches Juliana carefully. She didn’t want to comment on anything prematurely as that could just push her further into her shell as she learned early on in their friendship. 

She shoves the tablet under her nose. “What do you think?”

Juliana looks startled at the sudden thing being shoved at her, but she takes the change of subject and offers her opinion. Her mouth was moving. She knows she was saying words, she can feel her mouth moving, but her mind was still stuck to their previous conversation. 

“Juliana. Valdes.” 

Juliana shakes her head, clearing her head as she meets Valentina’s eyes. “What?”

“I asked if you were ready for bed,” Valentina asks, fingers brushing against her cheek. She presses her fingers against her cheek. “You okay?”

Juliana nods. She clenches her fist against her thigh, trying to ground herself. She can see the doubt in Valentina’s eyes, the worry swimming in them. “I swear I’m fine.” She reaches up and grabs her fingers, squeezing it once before letting go. She tilts her head towards the bed. “Let’s go to bed.”

Valentina scans her face, but nods, acquiescing. “Do you want to carpool tomorrow? I can drop you off before I go into the office.”

Juliana shakes her head as she slips in between the cool sheets. “No, you have a board meeting tomorrow. You gotta tell them.”

Valentina groans, her hands covering her face, as if trying to claw it off. “Fuck. That’s right.”

Juliana looks at her, sympathetically. “You know I would go if I didn’t have my midterm.”

Valentina nods, but her pout remains. She shimmies closer to Juliana, almost a breath away from her. She throws an arm over Juliana, carelessly. 

Juliana looks down and sees Valentina’s brown hair covering her chest, feeling her breaths against the center of her chest. She strokes her fingers through it, carefully and gently to make sure she doesn’t accidentally pull on it, knowing the motions help Valentina sleep better. Frankly, the motion of it also helps her calm her brain down a bit and stop thinking about that certain conversation. 

-

-

-

[9:30 AM] Time to go and face the murder. 

[9:31 AM] Yes, I know you won’t see this until later

[9:32 AM] but im pretending to text you

[9:33 AM] asshat from the club is here

[9:35 AM] probably cos his daddy told him too

[9:36 AM] Your daddy told you to be there

[9:37 AM] Test over?

[9:37 AM] and how dare u!?

[9:38 AM] not yet. Not my turn yet.

[9:39 AM] Good luck! 😘

Valentina looks down at the phone waiting for the three dots to appear. When it remains the same, she sighs, disappointed, closes the app, and pockets her phone. She looks around the glass-walled boardroom, already filling up with board members and their secretaries. 

One thing Valentina appreciates about her grandfather is the fact that he was relatively aware for someone his age. He liked to diversify of the board members and what each and every single one of them brings to the table. So although they must disagree initially. She knows that they have no choice, but to agree. But just in case they don’t, Valentina hired a lawyer outside of their company’s team of lawyers.

Her lawyer, Alex, slips in the seat behind her but rolls it up so she was right by her ear. “Are you sure you wanna do this?” 

“Well we read over the stipulations twice,” Valentina says. “I’m 97% confident that they’ll agree to this without much disagreement.” 

Alex’s brows furrow. “Why do you have a 3% hold out?”

“That 3% hold out is me having to square up with them,” Valentina whispers. “I am 100% confident that by the end of this meeting that they’ll agree to it.” Valentina mulls over her words before correcting herself. “Wrong choice of words. Accept it. Because if they don’t agree we’ll sue!” She turns to Alex, looking a little bit doubtful. “Right?”

“Right,” Alex mutters as she pushes her chair back a bit as she sees the other boardroom members filing in the boardroom in their impeccable designer suits and superiority complexes. She hopes Valentina knows how to deal with them. 

-

-

-

“Good news or good news?” Guille asks when Valentina strides in his office, head held high and a triumphant look on her face. “Did the vultures accept it?”

Valentina shoots him a look as she sits on one of the chairs in front of Guille’s desk. She throws her feet on the glass desk. Guille rolls his eyes and nudges her feet off them. 

“Like you gave them a choice,” Guille nods, saying it more to himself than to Valentina, looking every bit like a proud older brother that he is. He sits back down behind his desk, fiddling with his computer. 

“I wasn’t about to let them dictate who I can marry when abuelito already took that choice of marriage away from me,” Valentina says, crossing her arms over her chest and pouting. “I’d rather marry Juliana than to marry someone like Lucho.” Valentina leans back, frowning as her mind continues to conjure up questions and confusion as to why her beloved Abuelito had done that. 

Her relationship with her Abuelito wasn’t bad nor was it strained. Valentina adores her Abuelito and she was his princess. As she grew up their relationship remained that of adoration as well as mutual respect. She was confused as to why her Abuelito would force her hand like this. 

Guille’s head tips, eyes confused as Valentina realized what her words sounded like.

“Because I love my-” Valentina coughs, clenching her fist against her thigh as she tries to make it sound as natural as possible. _Fiancee_ sounded too weird so she opted for something else. “Juliana.” 

Guille’s eyes continue to bore into hers. Valentina swears she feels like she’s rummaging around in her head trying to figure her out. Guille nods and Valentina can feel her tension seep away.

“So is she coming with us?”

“We’re going somewhere?” Her mind flips through her schedule, trying to remember. 

“Valentina, reunion,” Guille says as he opens a drawer and starts rummaging through it, looking for something. He pulls out a small, white, square envelope and slides it across the desk. 

“For which side?” Valentina snatches it off the desk, hurriedly opening it, almost ripping the paper in half.

“Papi’s.”

She rolls her eyes at the intricacies of the invitation is with it’s gold inked letters and a literal gold leaf lining the invitation. Only the best and most expensive for the Carvajal's. She scans the invitation, noting the date and location. She frowns. She can see Juliana’s schedule in her mind, the green and red writing detailing the days she had stuff to do. She was pretty sure school doesn’t let out until maybe a day or two into the reunion. 

“Juliana has school,” Valentina mutters as she pulls up their thread and quickly messages her, taking a picture of the invitation with a _Please tell me that I can get out of this using you._

“That doesn’t matter, Val,” Guille says. “You know you gotta show.”

Her phone pings and she looks down to see a message with a picture attached. 

[11:22 AM] Nope. 

[11:22 AM] Suffer. 

Valentina clicks on the picture to see Juliana had already blocked off that week out of her calendar. She wanted to groan and throw something like the invitation at her brother’s head. 

[11:23 AM] Traitor. 

[11:24 AM] Love you too. 😘

Valentina was in the middle of composing a reply when she hears her brother’s laughter. She looks up, raising an eyebrow at the unspoken question. 

Guille shakes his head, still laughing, but much more subdued. The sparkle twinkling in his eyes made Valentina feel like there was a joke that she wasn’t in on. Her eyes narrow at her brother. 

“What?” Valentina asks, whining. 

“You’re almost 30 and you _still_ sound like you’re 6. It’s amazing really.”

Valentina rolls her eyes, standing up. She flips her brother off as she stomps out of his office. 

“Very mature, Valentina!”

She hears Guille bark in laughter as she holds her middle finger up higher to him.

-

-

-

Juliana uses her shoulder to push open her apartment door not at all surprised at the smell that greeted her nose. She stops at the entryway. The smell didn’t surprise her but the number of flowers and mood lighting strewn about her dining room and living room did. For a moment she thought she was at someone else’s apartment until she noticed her bright green umbrella leaning against the sofa and Valentina’s poncho hanging on the coat rack. 

“Val?!” Juliana yells as she puts her stuff away in the hallway closet. She toes off her shoes and pads to the back of her apartment where her kitchen was, trying to listen for any sounds that her best friend was in her apartment. “Valentina?!”

She hears Valentina’s hurried footsteps so she stops in the hallway to wait. 

Valentina’s voice reaches her first before she does, screaming. “No! No! Don’t take another step, Valdes!” She appears at the end of the hallway wearing a dress that Juliana hasn’t seen it in a very long time.

It was the first dress that Juliana designed and actually made. She gave it as a present for Valentina’s graduation because she literally didn’t have enough money to have food at the end of the week or buy Valentina what she thought was a fitting gift for the young millionaire.

Juliana’s eyes soften and tears unbiddenly springs to her eyes at the sudden appearance of it, heart clenching. Her fingers coming up to her eyes to stop them from flowing. She hears Valentina laugh before she feels her arms wrap around her waist, her chin on her shoulder.

“Are you crying?” Valentina asks, amusement coloring her tone. Her hands rub her arms and back, reaching everywhere to try and provide her comfort. 

Juliana shakes her head, voice caught in her throat. She presses her fingers harder against her eyes in an effort to contain her tears. 

“Juliana, look at me,” Valentina demands softly, tapping her on the cheek softly. She shakes her wrist to try and dislodge her fingers, trying to coax her into showing her face. “It’s okay. Don’t cry.”

Juliana takes a deep breath and lets her fingers fall. She blinks quickly trying to clear her eyes, but they remain glassy. “What are you doing?”

Valentina grabs her by the waist and turns her around, leading her back to where she came from.“Just following your wishes, babe.” She pulls out a dining chair for her, helping her into her seat before she went to grab the rest of the food from the kitchen. 

Juliana takes in the small amount of food already laid out. It has a little bit of everything single thing she likes. Even the chips that she mentioned in passing when they first met. “Did you actually cook?” She yells in the direction of the kitchen. Valentina doesn’t reply and she was tempted to actually look in the kitchen to see what the older was up to, but she stays put. 

Valentina looks affronted as she comes back with a covered baking dish. “How dare?” She sets it down and pushes it towards Juliana. She uncovers the dish. “Ta-da!” She moves her fingers in a jazz hands fashion. 

“How-?”

“Went to your mom’s and had her teach me your favorite.” Valentina cuts the first piece and lays it out on her plate before sitting down across from her to see her reaction. 

Juliana shakes her head and gestures around the well-decorated room. “No, I mean why all of this?”

Juliana sees Valentina’s fingers immediately start playing with the corner of the linen placemat, rolling it between her fingers. She reaches over and laces their fingers together. 

“I just want to let you know that I appreciate you for agreeing to this,” Valentina says, her thumb was caressing the soft skin of Juliana’s thumb. “I know this is not what you signed up for when we started the company.”

“I signed up for whatever it takes to get our company to thrive,” Juliana counters. “And if that means I’m going to marry my best friend then so be it.”

Valentina glares at her, almost mockingly. “You just have to one-up my words every time huh?” she teases as she reaches down between the legs of the table to the bag that she had stowed away there. She opens the small box and takes the ring out of its plush holder. “Juliana Valdes, will you marry me?”

“You are such a dork.” Juliana shakes her head, the fondness clear in her eyes and at the quirk of her lips. “I already said yes.” She holds her hand out to Valentina.

“Just following your wishes, babe,” Valentina echoes her earlier words as she takes her hand, providing enough grip to anchor her, but gently enough that Juliana felt like she was the most precious thing in Valentina’s world, making Juliana’s heart thump harder as she slides the ring on her finger. 

Juliana looks down at the bright, glittering chunk of diamond on her finger. True to Carvajal fashion, it was elegant, grand, and bold. It must’ve been in the hundredths of thousands if not millions. Her stomach feels unsettled, hardened, almost nauseated at the thought. 

_(It’s fake)_

**Author's Note:**

> if you wanna yell at me
> 
> tumblr: valenjuls


End file.
